Saturday will be Kodomo no hi in Japan. Despite the name (”Children’s Day”), it’s mainly a celebration for boys - the girls have Hina Matsuri in March.
So around this time, households with male offspring traditionally hoist koi nobori - huge carp-shaped streamers/banners - in celebration.
Seen all over Japan, koi nobori are often huge and elaborate. But today I saw koi nobori that really took my breath away.
Enjoying a Golden Week drive around Kyushu’s Aso National Park, we happened upon Tsuetate, a hot-spring town not far from the famous Kurokawa onsen resort.
You get a glimpse of the occasional flapping koi as you drive into the town, but then you come around the bend in the river…
And there, from one side of the river to the other, and from one end of the town to the other, were hundreds and thousands of colourful koi, a spectacle quite unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Quite how the townspeople go about the task, when they start and how long it takes, my research hasn’t found out yet, but it’s a job they must be immensely proud of, and rightly so.
This is a gorgeous post and makes me want to go to the onsen just to see the koinobori alone.
Does the town decorate the space over the river for any other festivities? Tanabata, for example?
Sugoi
I envy you, Overoften. The drive up on Aso’s Yamanami Highway is one of my all time favorite places in Japan.
You’re not wrong, JP. I was up there again today. It’s a magical place.
Man. It’s been years since I was in Kyushu. Some Osaka friends want to take an “onsen run” the next time I’m in Japan. I might have to take them up on it.
Overoften, I missed you somehow. Maybe I was distracted by shockingly un-Tsuetate gelato hotties. One spoke with an Australian accent, which once again reminded me not to bicker with my wife in English and assume else nobody understands.
The carp, according to my lovely wife, are sent from people around the country. Once a common tradition for families with boys, they just don’t look as good flying off an apartment balcony alongside the day’s laundry. So, they write their names on it and ship it off to Tsuetate.
The grilled ayu (river fish) on a stick is especially nice. And found a decent onsen, after trying the Miyazaki inspired onsen slum hanging off the cliff.